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INTERVIEW: Ferry Corsten at Electric Zoo

A veteran of dance music, Ferry Corsten is no doubt a pro at making people dance - full on. Having toured almost any country you can think of, holding his own party in the party paradise known as Ibiza, a new project with another seasoned producer/DJ Markus Schulz, while always creating new tunes for his fans, he has proven he most definitely still has it, and he's not going anywhere.

We got to hang out with Ferry at Electric Zoo in New York City. He told us about his summer in Ibiza at his "Full On" party, New World Punx and what it's like working with Markus Schulz, his track "Diss," and the best "diss" story he can remember (although he says it wasn't meant as one)! Check it out below:

How has your summer been?

It’s been hectic, [but] really good. But very, very busy because, I spent a lot of time in Europe with Ibiza, where I have my own night, "Full On," every Sunday. So it was good. It’s in Eden in San Antonio, and Eden has been totally remodeled, the whole club. So you can’t recognize the old Eden anymore. It’s a beautiful club right now, so it was a very exciting summer for me. But at the same time, being there every Sunday, and having to play in Russia and in other places, you know, to get off Ibiza, it’s a hell to get to another place from there!

Do you have a favorite place to go in Ibiza or favorite thing to do when you’re there?

There’s a restaurant that I really love to go to. It’s called Las dos Lunas and it feels like an oasis of just calm. As soon as you come in, the vibe of that restaurant is … and I just love being there! So that's always ... I make an effort to go there.

Well, for the opening night I had Markus, which is great, because obviously I’m doing a lot of stuff with Markus now. I loved playing with Showtek, those guys are just … it’s just fun! The whole thing about "Full On" is to take away the whole "serious" thing about DJing, you know. It’s just having fun and loving what you’re doing, and playing back to back with two different styles of music, basically that would have to work together somehow. This is a challenge and then it’s a lot of fun. I had Chicane the other day, which was really good fun as well. It’s a totally different type of music again, but I think those three were my favorites.

How is New World Punx going with Markus Schulz?

Well, New World Punx is something that just grew organically. We were first making music together, and then we had a couple of shows where we were actually billed together as individual DJs. But we called each other up and said “Hey, let’s just do back to back the whole set, put the two sets down together and then play like four hours, five hours back to back.” And that resulted in the crowd [asking] “When, when are you guys touring with this?!”

Then we decided [to] grab the two titles of our biggest hits, put them together, "The New World" and "Punk." [We decided] we were gonna start touring and making music under that moniker, and so far, it’s been received really well! It’s really cool because it gives us a bit more freedom, as New World Punx, to play really different stuff than we would normally individually. We can just do anything we want, and it’s real fun for the both of us, which you can actually see! I think that the crowd sees that as well, and feels that.

We’ve been both been doing this for a long time now, and we know how competitive it can be sometimes in this industry, and we're sort of like sick and tired of it. [We] just want to have fun, because that’s where it started, and that’s what it should be.

What’s the best part about working with Markus?

Markus is really driven guy! His enthusiasm about music is second to none. And we really feed off each other, you know. I can play [one] track, and he’s, like, "Oh, I can play this now!" And it’s like up and up and up. That’s really cool. I love that about him.

Tell us about your track "Diss?"

"Diss" is actually something that I made two years ago, when I was playing at "A State of Trance" in Miami. And I just needed a track that had a really strong opening. I was going through old music, and I came across a track by D-Shake, it’s called "Techno Trance" and it had that intro. [I said] "Okay, I’m just gonna re-produce that," and I mashed it up with another ‘90s track by Armando "100% of Dissing You," and he used a sample, you know, "I’m gonna diss you right now." But, you know, this is just a, a track. [I thought] if I put all these things together, it’s gonna be like a right statement.

What’s the worst you’ve ever been dissed or that you've dissed someone else?

When I'm in Phoenix, there’s always this story going around, and the guys over there always say, "Oh man, I’ve never seen anybody being dissed so badly." There was a guy who was, at the time when everybody started going from vinyl to CDs - I was playing on CDs, and there was some local DJ who said, “You play on the CDs and it’s not real DJing. You just play boom, boom music.” To which I could only answer, because he was a local DJ there then I’ll respect, "sorry, but tomorrow I’m flying somewhere else, and then [to] another continent next week. You keep doing what you do, and I do what I do." And then the whole crowd there with us, surrounding us, they were like, “Ohhhhh.” You know, I mean, that, that would be a diss in my book. But it wasn’t meant to be a diss.

Burn!

Well a lot changed a lot since the vinyl days. How would you say your sound, or the way you produce and do things has changed from ten years ago?

First of all, there's way more across the board. Before I had my breakthrough with, with trance, I was already doing different stuff. But, people know me as a trance DJ because that was my big breakthrough. My sound was way more pure, as in pure trance. And right now, it has influence from techno, from electro, from house, you know, but still, the bottom line is still trance.

Also the way I produced, and I wish that I would go back to those days, but technology is different, you know. Back in the day, I only had like so much equipment, and I had to make the most out of that. I had to milk it for what I had. Right now, the possibilities with all the plug-ins and stuff is endless, and you keep going and you keep fine-tuning. So I think definitely my tracks are way more fine-produced than before. It was a lot more raw back in the day. But in all honesty, you know, back in the day it was just you had your idea, you put it out, bang, and that was it. And right now, you have an idea and just fine-tuning it.

What music do you listen to outside of dance music?

Everything but dance music. But in general, like chill out stuff, classical music, jazz, reggae.

Are there any artists you listen to that nobody knows about?

I love stuff like reggae, like, Sister Nancy and Eek-A-Mouse, really different stuff. Also Erykah Badu, you know, just real good stuff. And then, everything that you can sort of categorize under the Ibiza-chill stuff, I love that.

Well, since we are at Electric Zoo, if you were an animal, what animal would you be?

I think I would be a seagull. Because I would be comfortable everywhere. In the water, on land, and in the air! And I love the beach!